TO THE PUBLIC.

At the desire of missDavenport, for whose
benefit this collection of original Miscellanies by
American authors has been made, I write this brief
Preface, without having had time to read the contributions
which it is designed to introduce. The names
of the writers, however, many of which are among the
most distinguished in our literature, and are honored
wherever our language is spoken, will suffice to recommend
the volume to the attention of the reading world.

If this were not enough, an inducement of another
kind is to be found in the circumstances of the lady
in whose behalf the contents of this volume have been
so freely contributed. A few years since, she
was a teacher in our schools, active, useful, and
esteemed for her skillful communication of knowledge.
At that time it was one of her favorite occupations
to make sketches and drawings from nature, an art
in which she instructed her pupils. A severe
illness interrupted her duties, during which her sight
became impaired, and finally lost. A kind of twilight
came over it, which gradually darkened into utter
night, shutting out the face of nature in which she
had so much delighted, and leaving her, without occupation,
in ill health. In this condition she has already
remained for five years.

To this statement of her misfortunes, which I trust
will commend her to the sympathies of all who are
made acquainted with them, as one who was useful to
society while Providence permitted, I have only to
add the expression of her warmest thanks to those
who have generously furnished the contents of the
volume she now lays before the public.

W.C. Bryant.

NewYork, June, 1859.

INTRODUCTORY.

This volume speaks so well for itself that it does
not need many words of preface to commend it to a
wide circle of readers. Its rich and varied contents,
however, become far more interesting when interpreted
by the motive that won them from their authors; and
when the kindly feeling that offered them so freely
is known, these gifts, like the pearls of a rosary,
will be prized not only severally but collectively,
because strung together by a sacred thread.